


A Smile and a Date

by grangerweasleys



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: 2017-2018 Cast, F/M, Play canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 12:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11646558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grangerweasleys/pseuds/grangerweasleys
Summary: “I like you, Scorpius, and I wanted to be the one to ask you out on a date.” She shrugged. “Thought I’d give you a break.”“You — you — you like me?” Scorpius said. “And — not a — you mean a…”“A like-like, yes.”“Oh my Bathilda Bagshot,” Scorpius breathed. “This is definitely not how I wanted this to go.”~In which Rose Granger-Weasley asks out Scorpius Malfoy. Inspired by Helen Aluko's performance as Rose.





	A Smile and a Date

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Helen Aluko's adorable Rose-smile during Part 2's Act 4, Scene 14 (She likes him back!).
> 
> For Bertie, for being the biggest CC stan ever (12 HOURS!) & and for loving Scorpius's love for Bathilda B as much as I do.

Scorpius Malfoy always had mixed feelings towards examinations.

His favourite aspect was, of course, the initial learning of the material: the sounds of his professors sending knowledge out of them and into his expanding, eager brain. Late nights at the library, so late that only he and Rose Granger-Weasley were left. The thrill of finding exactly what he needed, hidden deep inside a book that he had not ought to have checked. The final product: a small contribution to this vast, vast world of knowledge that he could only hope to briefly dent. 

While never as fun as _thee_ initial thrill, Scorpius did enjoy revising too. The rediscovering of knowledge that he had hidden away in his brain, the ‘ah!’ when he remembered it or when a tough piece of theory finally clicked inside of his head. With History of Magic, it was like being reunited with old friends and places. His greatest treasure.

But Scorpius was a boy who had always been drawn to anxiety and that anxiety was certainly never helped by examinations.

Planning out how he would answer a question; gathering knowledge from every stretched out part of his brain; the enjoyment he felt pulling an answer together and digging deeper and deeper into the subject matter. Scorpius loved all of that — no, he _lived_ for all of that. But the anxiety? The twisting feeling in his stomach when he looked at a foreign question, the sweat running down his skin, the nausea that screamed out? _That_ — that he could do without.

It was only natural then that he left his last O.W.L. exam, History of Magic, that afternoon with his stomach twisted and his fingers clawed around his marked and noted exam paper.  He paced down the corridor with it held up to his face, scanning the questions and mentally recalling his answers. 

“Oh no!” He exclaimed, when he realised he had foolishly gotten a date wrong by a single digit. “I’m never going to get an ‘O’ now!”

Suddenly, the exam paper was knocked from his hands and his bag went tumbling forward. The books and papers inside of it came flying out and what was once meticulously neat and organised became a heap of mess on the floor. 

Reflexively, and from the experience of years of bullying, Scorpius inhaled and patted his trouser pocket where his wand lay. When he looked up, however, his face relaxed at the sight of the tall, scrawny, and distressed certainly-not-a-bully in-front of him.

“Scorpius!” The boy, Felix, said. Scorpius had always found him particularly handsome: a quiet but brainy Ravenclaw who had never meant him any harm. “I’m sorry! I’m in a rush — I need to get to my exam…”

Scorpius held his hands up. “It’s okay, Felix. I’ll sort them myself now.”

“Are you sure?”

Scorpius smiled at him and bent down to pick up the unfamiliar quill that lay beside his things. “Of course. I think this is yours,” he said, and he handed him it. “Good luck with your exam!”

“Thanks, Scorpius!” Felix said, giving him a final grin before dashing away.

A small, sad smile creeped onto Scorpius’s face. Felix was yet another reminder of his seemingly never-ending crush on Rose Granger-Weasley; a reminder that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to force himself to feel what he felt towards Rose for anyone else. 

It had only gotten worse as the pair had become friends over the past year. While his past self had been adamant that it was true love, Scorpius now understood that it had only been an idolised crush. Now — now that he knew her, truly _knew_ her, he had fallen for Rose. Not Rose Granger-Weasley, but _Rose_.

Scorpius sighed and shook his head. There was no point dwelling on it, was there? Summer was here and his father was taking him travelling in France. Their first holiday together — first holiday in years, actually, since his Mum had gotten too sick to travel. He would not ruin it for himself.

“Right,” he mumbled under his breath as he looked at the fallen documents on the floor. “It’s probably best if I re-sort my things elsewhere.”

“Needing help?” 

Scorpius jumped up, somehow managing to trip on his leg as he did so. “Rose!” He squeaked, tilting over. 

Rose grabbed onto his shoulder and steadied him. “You seem flustered, Scorpion King. Is everything alright?” She looked at the pile on the floor. “How did that happen?”

Scorpius froze. _Flustered._ He was getting _flustered._ Again! Over Rose! He remembered the advice Albus had given him, a year ago; passed on from his own mother. _Relax around her. Don’t be so… intense._ And it had worked, hadn’t it? They were friends now. Friends!

“Oh — I…” Scorpius cleared his throat. He took his palm and very carefully smoothed down the sides of his hair and leaned against the wall. He bent his knee, resting the back of his foot on the wall, and folded his arms. “Got distracted.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Distracted?”

“Yes by… by… by something.” Scorpius grimaced. _Maybe a bit too relaxed? Too relaxed!_ He removed himself from the wall. “How did the exam go for you?”

Rose smiled at him with that breathtakingly sweet and perfect smile that she had. The one that melted him. _That one._ “Very well. I’m aiming for an ‘O’,” she said confidently. _Confident. She’s so confident. I love that she’s so confident._ “But I doubt that I’ll do better than thee Scorpion King in History of Magic. It is your expertise, after-all.”

Scorpius felt his cheeks reddening. “It’s my passion,” he replied. “I — I could do it for hours.”

Rose smiled at him again. _Is that adoration in her eyes? Adoration at my love for History of Magic? Adoration?_ Scorpius smiled back and the two locked eyes. A mutual feeling passed between the two of them. It quickly secured itself.

“Scorpius… I…”

“Summer!”

“What?”

“Oh — no, you go ahead. I — I forgot that I —”

“Forgot that you what?”

“No  — honestly — you go ahead. I just forgot about something I had to ask you, but it can wait.”

Rose scrunched up her face. “Ask _me_?”

“Nothing — nothing bad!” Scorpius said quickly. “Just about summer. About your summer.”

“ _My_ summer?”

“Is it your summer yet?”

“You’re confusing me, Scorpion King.”

 _You’re letting things be weird again!_ Scorpius unclamped his clawed-up hands and took a deep breath. “I made a mental note — that clearly got burdened down in my brain — to ask when your exams finished. I — do you remember that day in the library when I was telling you about that — that bookstore in Hogsmeade?”

“Yes!” Rose said enthusiastically. “I do.”

“Well — I was going to ask if you wanted to go with me. Together. To the bookstore. When our summers started.”

“Like a _date_?”

“Yes!” Scorpius smacked his hand over his mouth, horrified. “N-n-n-not a date! A friend trip! A trip. Not a date. A trip. An excursion.”

“Not a date?”

“A trip!”

“Well,” Rose said, folding her arms. “I loose either way, then.”

The horror on Scorpius’s face continued to spread. “W-w-what do you mean?”

“Well,” Rose began, as if she were making an important announcement. “I was actually going to ask _you_ on a date and now I obviously cannot — although I am interested in this excursion.”

“Then it is a date!” Scorpius said, so loudly that it bordered on shouting. “A date! The date-iest of the dates! I am asking you on a date!”

Rose sighed. “No — _I_ wanted to be the one to ask _you_ on a date. I thought it was only fair, you see. Plus — it was always apart of my plan.”

“Your _what_?”

“My plan, Scorpius. I like you. A lot. So much that I wanted to ask you out on a date.” Scorpius’s eyes widened and he suddenly felt very, very light. “Are you alright?”

“Can you — can you please _rewind_? Like we just rewound our brains in that History of Magic exam? Though not too far back. Just far enough. To the asking me out thing. You, Rose, asking me out.”

Rose smiled at him again and the warmth radiated from it. Scorpius relaxed. “I like you, Scorpius, and I wanted to be the one to ask you out on a date.” She shrugged. “Thought I’d give you a break.”

“You — you — you like _me_?” Scorpius said. “And — not a — you mean a…”

“A like- _like_ , yes.”

“Oh my Bathilda Bagshot,” Scorpius breathed. “This is definitely not how I wanted this to go.”

“ _What_?”

“I don’t think you quite understand how much I had planned this moment out. I was — in my head — Oh Merlin! I _like-like_ you too! A lot — more than a lot. When — just for clarity’s sake — when did you start — like- _liking_ me?”

“When you became the Scorpion King.”

Scorpius’s mouth dropped open. “That was — that was — in our — over a year…”

“I saw you in a different light,” Rose said, as if it were the most simple concept in the world. 

“But I asked you out!”

“And I said no.”

“And you said _no_!”

“You made me disappear twice! I couldn’t just go on a date with you,” Rose said. She smiled him. Again. _That_ smile. “You had to work for me, you see!”

“Are you — are you telling me, that if I hadn’t… made you… disappear… we would be… right now…” Scorpius choked out. 

“Well, no,” Rose replied. “Because I wouldn’t have seen you in a new light if you hadn’t — well, I did want to throttle you and Albus at first for making me disappear. Twice!”

“Well, to be fair, the second time — everyone else did disappear with you…”

“Scorpius!” Rose said, though she burst out into laughter. “Very nicely defended.”

“I’m not quite sure that I’m processing any of this,” Scorpius said, ignoring her. “Did I die in that exam? Did I die at the twenty marker on _A History of Magic?_ Was the ecstasy of writing on my beloved Bathilda Bagshot for twenty pages what killed me? Is this my heaven? Is any of this real?”

Rose reached out and stroked his cheek. “You are very much alive and here, Scorpius.” 

Dazed, held onto her wrist. He nodded. “Very much alive and here,” he repeated. “And I very much doubt that a heaven would even be able to contain a delight as great as this one.”

Rose smiled. “From telling me that I smelt of bread to that. I am impressed.”

“Not bread!” Scorpius grimaced. “Fresh bread! And fresh flowers!”

“And you smell wonderful yourself,” Rose said. “And if you’re needing more time to process this… we could process it… together?”

“ _Together_?”

“Yes. On a date.” Rose paused. “ _Our_ date.”

“ _Our_ date,” Scorpius repeated. “ _Our_ date. I — I — Nothing has ever sounded so good.”

“Excellent,” Rose said. She looked down at her watch and frowned. “Oh — I need to go to Quidditch practice. But the bookstore? You’ll take me to the bookstore?”

“I’d take you to a hundred bookstores.”

Rose’s smile appeared again. “I’m almost as touched as when you said to Albus that you would continue to pursue me.”

“You — what — you heard _that_?”

Rose laughed. She leaned forwards and pecked Scorpius’s cheek, her smiling lips brushing against his skin. Scorpius felt himself relax again. Rose like- _liked_ him. Rose like- _liked_ him and they were going on a date together. A date.

“I’ll see you on Saturday,” she said once she had pulled away. “For _our_ date.”

“Yes — our — _our_ date,” Scorpius repeated. “Our date.”

And with _that_ smile plastered across her face, Rose turned and skipped off. 


End file.
